Deep End
by BearCafe
Summary: Nom Nom needs to lay low for a while and he acquires help from Grizz. We Bare Bears owned by Daniel Chong and the Bear Crew. Inspiration to write from CupOfAngst here on , go read and fav all of his work because they are all amazing. Don't forget to comment what you thought, I'm not afraid of criticism.
1. The Happening

-The Happening-

A chilly night was among the inhabitants of San Francisco. The sky was splayed with stars and the city below was still bustling. A certain grizzly bear was walking down the sidewalk, holding two bags of groceries. He continued his stroll, reciting things he still needed to retrieve, but then he saw a crowd of people that from the outside seemed to surround something or someone in the middle. Letting his curiosity the better of him, he picked up the pace a bit to get to the crowd faster. The closer he got to the crowd, the better he could understand the mumble from the people.

"Aw, he's so adorable!"

"Smile for the camera!"

"I can't believe he's here!"

"Why am I here?"

"Take a picture with me!"

From the center of the circle, the grizzly could hear a rather familiar voice trying to tell the crowd of people to leave him alone. Grizz stood on the outer edge of the crowd and stood on the tip of his paws to try and see over the group of people. Alas, it was no use, he still could not tell what was going on. Grizz slowly started squeezing through the crowd to only find something tragic in the middle.

A small, weeping koala with his arms wrapped around his knees.

Grizz's vision suddenly flashed to the koala being replaced with a small grizzly bear while the sound of a lightning strike echoed through his mind. The grizzly bear dropped his bags and dashed towards the koala, now standing over him, he unsheathed his claws, made his fur stand up to make himself look bigger and held his head up towards the sky letting out an earth-shattering roar that echoed throughout the whole city.

Everything was still as if time itself had stopped, eyes were held in the direction of the bear. Everyone on that street started sprinting in different directions away from the bear while screaming their heads off. The koala looked up to see the eyes of the once dangerous looking bear, sniffling. Without any words, Grizz held out his paw, offering to help the small animal to his feet. The koala accepted that offer and as soon as he was to his feet, he almost immediately grasped onto the grizzly's leg, sobbing uncontrollably. The grizzly looked down at the koala and slowly ran his paw through the other's head fur in an attempt to comfort him.

"T-thanks, Grizz." mumbled Nom Nom, under his tears while letting go of the grizzly's leg.

Grizz grabbed his arm with his paw and looked off to the side, "No problem, man."

There was a couple of seconds of silence between them.

"So...what was going on?" asked Grizz, hesitantly.

"T-the fans, they won't leave me alone. I thought the vacation would help but every time I just want to do something c-casually. I get ambushed by fans that won't stop at anything to try and get my attention." The koala said while looking down, stumbling over his words and sniffling.

Yet another couple of seconds of silence go by.

"H-hey, Grizz?" the koala began to ask as he looked up from the ground.

"Yeah?" the grizzly responded a bit surprised.

"C-can I stay at your place for a while? I think I need to lay low for a while." The koala asked in almost a whisper while staring at the bear awaiting his answer.

"I wouldn't mind letting you stay, man. It's just that..my brothers. They don't trust you at all." Grizz said but then took a look at Nom Nom's tear-filled eyes.

"I-It's alright, I und-" said Nom Nom, getting ready to turn around.

"Actually...I'll see what I can do." interrupted Grizz. The koala nodded.  
Grizz went over to grab the grocery bags he dropped and started walking once again but this time, towards the cave, with hanging onto his shoulder.

...

Grizz and Nom nom reaches the cave. All the lights inside the cave were turned off.

"Wow, I didn't know I was gone for that long," said Grizz before slowly opening the door to the cave slowly. He tried his best not to make too much noise that would wake his brothers up. He went over to his room and slowly shut the door.

"Okay..you can sleep in here, I'll sleep on the couch," said Grizz. Nom Nom sat on the bed and kind of just stared down at the ground. The bear frowned a bit upon the site "Well, sweet dreams, man." Grizz said before grabbing an extra sheet for himself, shutting off the lights, and closing the door.

Grizz went over to the couch and laid on it. His mind was filled with thoughts about how he was going to deal with Nom Nom staying here and his brothers not knowing a single thing about it. The bear sighed and slowly started to drift off into the realm of sleep.

...

~Nom Nom rose from his slumber. He looked ahead towards the door to see that it was slowly opening and then it suddenly stopped. After a few seconds, the door busted open and hundreds of loud people filled the room. It was his fans and some paparazzi, filling the room and making it crowded, to the point where Nom nom felt as if he could not breathe.~

"AH!" exclaimed Nom Nom, jumping into an upright position. He felt that the sheets underneath him were damp, he had broken into a cold sweat. Nom nom's eyes began to fill with tears before he turned to his side and cried himself to sleep.


	2. Stow Away

The sky was scattered with a range of orange colors as the sun rose over the horizon. The forest came to life as the birds started to chirp their melodious songs for the world to hear. Rays of light started to take over the earth beneath them as the sun rose above the horizon. The light reached into a nearby window of a cave, filling the room with light.

A small creature slowly parted his eyelids to see what was the ever so bright light trying to kidnap him from his land of slumber. Within a second, the creature groaned in discomfort and turned his head away from the brightness. In the next room, a bigger brown creature of the Ursus genus had already returned from his trip to the city of dreams. The bear rose from the fetal position on the couch to a more upright one. The bear stretched his back vertically and extended his arms upwards while letting out a yawn before going into a standing position. The bear scratched his fur before heading towards the kitchen to receive an expected breakfast.

The bear stumbled into the kitchen, "Good morning bros, I hope you t-" the bear halts his words as he found no one inhabiting the kitchen. The bear let out a low, "Hm," in a reflective manner. Maybe his brothers were not awake yet. The bear walked his way over to the fridge before slowly opening it to peek inside, nothing, or at least nothing he was looking for. He groaned, annoyed, wondering where the polar bear variant brother was. He knew his other brother, the panda, had art classes today, so with another groaned, he exited the kitchen and headed towards his room.

The small creature, the koala, was now sitting upright on the bed scanning the room. He never noticed how messy everything was. The koala, without a second thought, started to try and tidy up the room a bit by putting things together and throwing out other questionable things. While the koala was doing some voluntary cleaning, the door slowly opened and furry snout slid through the small opening in the door. "Hey, Nom Nom, are you awake?" The koala's heart skipped a beat but then he soon realized it was the voice of Grizz. The grizzly entered the room and saw Nom Nom on the floor holding some of his stuff. "Dude, what are you doing," asked Grizz. Nom Nom broke a slight sweat but then he furrowed his brows. "This is room is disgusting, how could you live like this!"

Grizz was honestly surprised and a bit upset at how harsh the koala had said that. "Oh, well, I try my hardest to keep it clean, I-" Grizz said as he looked down and spoke in a tone. "Yeah, well you need to try har-" the koala stopped himself, he realized what he had said. But before he could apologize, Grizz started to speak an aggressive tone "Wait, this is MY cave and MY room. How are you going to tell me how to live, when you can't even keep your own life together." The grizzly stood up for himself this time. Nom Nom looked down and started to tear up. He knew what he said was wrong but that last bit that Grizz said got to him. A tear started to fall down his cheeks as he ran out of the room and towards the bathroom where he proceeded to lock himself in there. "Fine! Cry about it then." Deep down, Grizz always wanted to stand up for himself, but now, he actually did it. And it feels good.

The bear went back into the kitchen. He thought he would at least make breakfast for the miserable koala. He didn't exactly know what the koala ate but he thought he could just put together some cereal. Everyone loves cereal, right? The grizzly proceeded to make two bowls of Frosty Fluffs. Grizz took the bowls and headed towards the bathroom. Grizz sat on the floor in from of the bathroom door and put the bowls beside him. "Go away," said a distressed koala from the inside of the bathroom. "I brought you cereal." Grizz picked up one of the bowls and extended his arm out. Nom Nom quickly opened the door, grabbed the bowl and shut it again. Grizz picked up his bowl of cereal and started eating them. "Are you still there? That's creepy, you big oaf." Nom Nom stated from the other side of the door. Grizz sighed, "Well, you're eating cereal from inside the bathroom. There was a brief silence. A chuckle came from the koala, "You're right." The koala opened the door. Grizz smelled depression. The koala sat down beside him and chowed down. As the koala ate, he leaned his head against the grizzly's side. They sat there and ate in silence.

The sun has made its way to the midpoint of its journey through the sky, it's now the afternoon. The bears were now relaxing on the couch enjoying a nice action cartoon. After the cartoon went off, Grizz flipped through the channels until he got to the news channel. Uh oh. There was a reporter in the street and the headline read: Where's Nom Nom? Nom Nom took a deep breath. "Want me to change the channel?" Grizz did not want to make the koala feel worse than he probably already felt. "No, let's see what's going."

A female reporter stood on the streets of downtown San Francisco with a crowd of people looking quite upset while wearing Nom Nom shirts. "People of San Fran, last night, the internet famous koala, Nom Nom, did not return to his mansion after he was told to be taking a leisurely stroll. We have his number one guard here with us to express how he feels about this situation. A large suited bald man, Farmer, rushed into the camera's view, getting super close to it. "Please, I know he's out there, find my son." Farmer was actually sobbing, on camera. Nom Nom felt a piece of his heart, break. The reporter patted the large man on the back trying to comfort him. "If you have info on the whereabouts of Nom Nom, please call this number. A number appeared on the screen. "Nom Nom, please come back to us, this is reported, Kaitlyn Koral, signing off." The TV cut from the broadcast of news to commercials. "Oh, I can't bear to be-" Grizz turned off the television.

"Yikes…" said Grizz while awkwardly scratching his head fur. Nom Nom sighed, he then whispered to himself to reassure that he was doing the right thing. "It's for your own good.." Nom Nom was fighting back tears and Grizz could tell. "Hey man, maybe we should watch a movie or some-" Grizz's words were interrupted by the sound of the doorknob shaking while hearing a familiar voice complaining about his day to someone else who was with him. Shoot. Grizz grabbed Nom Nom and held him as if he were a football. "Hey what are you doing, you oaf." Grizz covered Nom Nom's mouth with his paw and dashed towards his room. Once inside his room, Grizz puts Nom Nom down and starts to internally panic, trying to think of a plan. "What's going on, why are you acting so weird?" Nom Nom asked as he looked up at Grizz. "My brothers just got back. I forgot that they can't know you're here and if you get caught, you'll be kicked out and- and-" Grizz started stammering his words. Nom Nom looked around the room, trying to find a good place where he could possibly hide, he took a glance under Grizz's bed and groaned in extreme discomfort. He slowly crawled his way under the bed to the point where he couldn't be seen on the outside.

The sun is getting close to finishing its race across the sky and it is now around 4 pm. The cave door opened and inside came two bears, a polar bear, and a panda bear. The polar bear was the first one to enter the cave and he immediately sniffed the air. Something isn't right. Panda noticed his brother's discomfort. "What is it?" Panda asked while removing his face from his phone. "Something or someone is here," replied Ice Bear in a monotonous tone. "What? We had the door locked. Did someone get it in?" Ice Bear started to sniff the ground and followed the smell onto the couch, where he could smell it the strongest. He coughed at how strong it was and then he followed his nose once more towards Grizz's room, Panda followed in his little brother's footsteps anxiously.

Grizz lightly sat down on his bed trying not to crush the koala was underneath and tried his best to stay calm. There was a couple of knocks at the door. "Come in." Grizz reluctantly welcomed his brothers in his room. "B-bros, w-what's up," Grizz said while looking at them trying not to break eye contact. "Shouldn't we be asking you that?" replied Panda studying Grizz's body language. Ice Bear stepped into the room so he could see around but didn't find anything too out of the ordinary except one thing. "Since when is older brother's room clean," remarked Ice Bear, squinting in the grizzly's direction. Grizz broke into a nervous sweat. "Yeah well, I wanted to," Grizz tried to think of an excuse, "surprise you?" Ice Bear doubts this. "Ice Bear wants to know the truth." Grizz started to nervously scratch at his fur. "Okay fine. I had a-" the grizzly paused midway. "I had a friend over and I wanted to make sure my room isn't totally junky." Ice Bear could tell he was lying but he had to make dinner so he left it alone for now. "I'll go make dinner now." Ice Bear said before he left out the room. "Dude, you're acting so strange," Panda asked in a tense tone before leaving still tapping away on his phone.

The grizzly wiped sweat from his brow and let out a sigh of relief. He picked himself up from the bed and brought himself to his knees to look under it. "You can come out now." The grizzly quietly reassured the koala that the coast is clear. The small koala crawled from under the bed, fur quite rough, "Ugh," said the koala, disgusted. Grizz chuckled a bit at the koala's misfortune. The koala punched the grizzly's leg in retaliation, blushing in embarrassment. "Well I have to eat dinner soon, I'll bring you back something," Grizz told the koala before leaving and closing his door.

The sun was now crossing the finish as it is once again on the horizon, it is now sunset. Dinner was awkward. No one spoke, not even a little. Ice Bear and Panda were first to finish but Grizz ate slowly so he wouldn't be seen suspiciously bringing food with him to his room. Grizz took hid leftovers and brought them to his room. When Grizz entered his room, Nom Nom was on his phone scrolling through different news articles talking about his disappearance. The koala sighed. "Hey, Poor Little Cabbage, I brought you some food." Grizz entered the room and closed the door behind him. Nom Nom looked up at the bear and sighed once more. "Thanks." Nom Nom looked at the plate and it was full of greens. "Yeah, I don't really like greens." Grizz chuckled while explaining. Nom Nom began to consume the food and it was some of the best of anything that he had eaten in his life. Grizz kind of felt awkward just sitting there watching him, luckily Nom Nom didn't seem to mind. "Hey, Grizz?" asked the koala suddenly pondering about something. "Yeah?" responded Grizz. "How come you're being so nice to me. I mean like, I've been so rude to you bears but when I was in distress, you came and helped me?" The koala paused in his eating and looked down at the ground. "Hey hey, bud, don't think like that. I love helping people." The koala groaned in annoyance. "Yeah, it may sound idiotic to help people who wronged you but even if you were rude to me. I know you aren't perfect, no one is, we all still have things to learn." The grizzly tried his best to explain. "That's so nice of you." Tears started to fill Nom Nom's eyes. "What did I do to deserve this?" "Huh." The grizzly looked at the koala's eyes full of tears. "What did I do, to deserve you?" Tears started to roll down Nom Nom's cheeks. "You saved me, took me in and fed me." The grizzly sat down beside the koala and whipped the tears from his eyes with his paw. "You didn't need to do anything, I already told you. No one deserves to be alone. Especially, you." Grizzly and Nom Nom's eyes met. Both of their cheeks were tinted with a soft pink. Grizz slowly got closer towards the other's face. Nom Nom quickly back his face away and coughed. "Yeah, I'm filthy, I need to shower." Ouch. "Yeah.." replied Grizz whilst sheepishly poking his paws together. Nom Nom left and headed towards the bathroom where he proceeded to take a long bath.

Nom Nom was fully relaxed. He was in a bubble bath and he was alone. He had time to recollect his thoughts. He knew that he needed to at least try and keep away from media for a couple of weeks. It's only been a day and he already feels terrible about it. Farmer is definitely worried sick, he will miss his gigs, he might even lose some of his fame. Mom Nom tried to push these thoughts to the side but then was one thought lingering in his head. Grizz, what is with that bear? Did the bear attempt to kiss him? Ugh. What a weirdo. Nom Nom suddenly felt really warm and he felt emotionally weird. He didn't know what to think of it. Did he want the bear to kiss him? Nah, he's barely a friend. He couldn't possible feelings for- Nom Nom shook his head, there's no way.

Nom Nom finished the bath and once he was ready, he went back into the bedroom. He found the grizzly splayed out across the bedroom, leaving no room for him. Nom Nom groaned, annoyed at this. He was able to wiggle his way in a small spot between the grizzly and the wall. After a few minutes of trying to fall asleep, Nom Nom could not. Nom Nom sighed in defeat and crawled onto the grizzly's stomach. Nom Nom felt...safe and warm. He also felt that his fur was a bit damp and a line of dampened fur went from there up to the bear's eyelids. W-was he crying? Nom Nom shook the thought away and curled up and fell into a deep sleep easily.


	3. Wild Time

Just like the beginning of every day, it was sunrise, vivid hues of orange and red were visible across the lengths of the vast, once darkened, sky. The air was filled with the beautiful and harmonious songs that the birds provided for the world to hear. The forest was alive and well. The city is bustling as always. It was just another day on cruel yet beautiful world on Earth. Rays of light started to climb over the horizon to claim the land with the sun. The light had reached a familiar window of a cave that was home to three bear brothers and a small yet well-known guest.

Loud snoring was audible throughout the room. A small creature groaned and turned over to a bright ray of light shining down onto his eyes. He quickly shielded his eyes with his arms. The koala turned his head away from the bright light only to find his face within some thick fur, it was warm, but it was also a bit filthy. "Yuck!" Exclaimed the koala as he finally sat up. His eyes could barely make out his surrounds as he was still a bit asleep. All five of senses just started to work to their fullest as he began to smell the sweat of the bear beside him and heard the loud snoring that was also coming from the bear. Yes, it annoyed the koala, but he knew it wasn't directly the grizzly's fault.

Nom Nom sneezed and proceeded to shiver. It seemed to be quite chilly in the cave on this fine morning. The grizzly suddenly sprang from the fetal position he was sleeping to a more upright one with his paws bawled up into fists in front of his face. "Wha- Huh?" The grizzly frantically looked around. The sneezed seemed to put the grizzly into a state of caution. "It was me, you big oaf." Grizzly focused his vision on the shivering koala. "Oh. Heh." The grizzly chuckled his embarrassment off whilst scratching the fur on the back of his head. The bear snapped his focus once again to the koala. "Hey, are you shivering?" The grizzly said, being caring as always, as he reached his paw towards the koala. The koala smacked his paw away, covering his nose. "Ew, don't touch me, you're filthy and you stink." The grizzly lifted his arm and sniffed under his arm to confirm the koala's assumptions. Yuck. The bear gagged. "Yeah, you're right, I'll go." The grizzly left the room, went to the bathroom, and proceeded to take a shower.

Nom Nom sighed as he found himself alone and bored. He decided to read some of the action comic books that Grizz had stored in his room. It was all Marvel comics. Nom Nom decided to read one, it was apparently about some hero named Black Panther. Despite not having any kind of care for comic books beforehand, he found this one quite interesting. After almost twenty minutes of reading that comic and then skimming a few others, he was interrupted by knocking on the door and a familiar voice speaking through it. "Breakfast is ready, Ice Bear put his heart into it." Damnit. Nom Nom's heart skipped a beat. The door slowly opened, "Older Brother is not doing weird things is h-" Ice Bear peeked into the room and saw the koala on the ground with the comic book in his hand. The koala gulped and chuckled nervously. "W-What's up man?" Ice Bear, wide-eyed, couldn't believe that the little trash can found a way into his brother's room. What was he doing here? How did he get in here? Ice Bear's mind just bounced back to a newspaper he read this morning. Famous koala missing, nowhere to be found, upset fans and friends- friend. Ice Bear initially wanted to kick the koala out of the house but was now kind of curious about his whole situation. Ice Bear finally spoke up, "Ice Bear wants to know what's going on." Nom Nom wanted to make some kind of snarky remark towards to the bear but he was currently staying in their house and has not been kicked out yet. Nom Nom sighed, "Alright. First of all, thanks for not killing me, I-" Nom Nom's head jerked forward a bit, he gagged. "I a-appreciate it. I wanted to get away from the media, it was becoming too much. I tried to bare through it but then it became too much and I found myself constantly in distress. That's when your older brother came around, he helped me out and brought me here. He's done so much in little time and even after all I've done to you guys." Nom Nom surprisingly didn't tear up, not even a little while telling the bear what had happened. Ice Bear opened his mouth to say something but then a door creaked open.

Grizz stumbled out the bathroom, holding his toothbrush in front of him if it were a microphone. "Oh, baby!" He dramatically falls to the ground. "Take me, to the, feeling!" With every two syllables, he struck a different pose while kneeling. "I'll be your hero, I'm winning!" He gets up and swings his head with each word, trying to put expression and emotion into his singing. He bounced out of his false moment of stardom and saw his brother standing halfway through the door. Oh no, he forgot, his brothers were home rushed towards the door, already panicking and sweating. "I can explain!" Grizz exclaimed before being interrupted by his brother who was monotonously chuckling a bit, "No need, Ice Bear welcomes your friend." Ice Bear backs out of the doorway and goes back into the kitchen but remarked something back at them.. "Also, breakfast is ready." Grizz and Nom Nom's stomach growled simultaneously. They both broke into a mutual laughter before going to the kitchen together.

Panda was tapping away on his phone like always, he was checking if he had any replies or new notifications on the new dating app he had been using for the last couple of days. Not really anything interesting, other than him strangely getting a couple of messages from guys, weird. Panda was ready to eat but him and his brothers always tried to wait until at least two of them are at the table. Ice Bear suddenly enters the kitchen. "We have a guest, be nice." Panda looked up from his phone and put it to his side, "What? Who?" He heard two voices chuckling from the other room and turned around to see his brother Grizz, casually joking with Nom Nom! Why would that dingle be here? Nom Nom turned his attention away from the grizzly and towards the Panda who had been glaring at him in a hateful manner that made him uncomfortable. Nom Nom wanted to be the bigger person so he gave a small smile and waved as he approached the kitchen. Panda turned around and looked back at him through the corner of his eye. Disgusted. Nom Nom grabbed his arm anxiously and looked up at grizzly who wasn't there and already sitting down in the kitchen. "Woo, I'm ready to chow down," said Grizz. Ice Bear pulled up a chair to the one inhabited side of the table and stacked a couple of books so Nom Nom could actually sit down and eat on the table. "Thanks." Nom Nom appreciated this effort to make him feel comfortable. Ice Bear had made everyone a three stack of pancakes with syrup on top, veggie bacon, and strawberries on the side.

Breakfast was, at first, mostly filled with Grizz's loud munching and Panda silently giving Nom Nom the death from the corner of his eye while he was trying to eat. Halfway through breakfast, Nom Nom decided to speak up about it. "Hey man, is there something you want to talk about? You've barely eaten anything and mostly glared at me." Nom Nom wanted to get to the bottom of this, he knew that the longer he waited, the worse it would get. "Maybe it's because you've been nothing but a pain in our fur everytime you try to do anything with us." Panda got up from the table and leaned over towards Nom Nom. "You may be fooling them with your fake sob story but you won't fool me. I'm not buying it." Panda was set on this being one of Nom Nom's fake stunts where he uses the bears for his benefit and no one else's." Ice Bear was washing dirty dishes but stopped for a second to listen. Nom Nom was about to speak but then Grizz stood up. "Panda, don't treat him like that! Yeah, he's done things in the past but it's now the present and you can't hold grudges forever! He's dealing with some tough things and I can confirm that he isn't faking the wh-" Grizz was suddenly interrupted by Panda. "Grizz, don't start with that bull crap. You just try to be sooo nice to everyone and then your oblivious and naive self just goes along with everything you're told! You let him in our house and didn't even ask! Stop being so stupid!" Panda was not having any of Grizz's excuses as they were in this exact situation before and he knew it was probably going to end just as he suspected it to end. Grizz stepped in front of Panda, fur standing on edge. "I'm not stupid! You're just being a jerk!" Grizz exclaimed. Panda's fur stood on edge. "Just shut up!" Panda said while he shoved Grizz. Grizz was pushed back a bit but then gained his footing again and started growling. "Your fake wild animal impression is bad," Panda remarked. Grizz pushed himself off the ground and launched himself towards Panda in attempt to tackle him. Suddenly, Ice Bear intervenes and catches the wild angry grizzly, trying to hold him down. Primal. Ice Bear knew this wasn't the brother he knew and loved. Grizzlies and other bears get super aggressive when they need to protect something that is dear to them or when put into extreme situations.

Ice Bear did his best to hold back the beast from hurting anyone, including the beast himself. Panda's expression suddenly went blank, seeing what was before turned him into one scared bear. His face now read worried and scared as he slowly backed up into the living room while the beast was thrashing about. Nom Nom had never seen Grizz like this before, he was trembling with fear. What happened to the loud, annoying, yet lovable bear that was once sitting at the table eating. Nom Nom wanted to somehow help in this situation but he didn't know what to do. Ice Bear started being pushed around the kitchen while trying to hold him back, knocking over the table and bumping into a wall, causing some pictures to fall. "Ice Bear thinks you should talk to older brother," said Ice Bear quickly yet of course monotonously to Nom Nom. Nom Nom nodded his head in acknowledgment and agreement. He jumped up onto the table and broke into a sweat. He hoped this worked. "Grizz!" The grizzly's head turned towards the koala, acknowledging his words. "You need to stop this and calm down, this isn't you." Nom Nom paused in thought and then resumed. "You don't need to defend me. I know you wanted to but look where that got you. Look at yourself." The wild grizzly looked down at himself, his fur was all ruffled. He looked at his paws, they looked more realistic than usual and his claws were unsheathed. The grizzly face had now shown that he was worried and upset. The grizzly started to feel himself getting dizzy as his head started to spin. Vision, blurred. Body trembled. Everything went black.

Grizz suddenly jerked awake, breathing heavily. He was in his room, lying on his bed. He placed his paw on his forehead, it was pretty warm and he had a massive headache. What had happened? He looked out the window and it seemed it was around noon. He wanted to get a damp rag for his head, so he turned his body towards the edge of the bed and jumped up. He stumbled out of his room and into the bathroom and turned on the light. He first ran cold water and used his paws to splash it on his face, an attempt to wake himself up. He looked at himself in the mirror and found that his fur was very rough. He grabbed the nearest brush and proceeded to brush his fur in a top to bottom motion until it appeared as straight as he could get it. He was unhappy with his appearance but it was the best he can do for the time being. Oh yeah, the rag. He took a washcloth and dampened it under the water and then turned off the water and applied it to his forehead.!He cut off the lights and left the bathroom and headed towards the living room.

Nom Nom, Panda, and Ice Bear were sitting on the couch, trying to put together what just happened. "Again, I'm so sorry, this wouldn't have happened if I didn't say anything." Panda had been constantly apologizing for the past five minutes."Ice Bear accepts your apology." Ice Bear reassured his acceptance for the twentieth time, a bit annoyed. Nom Nom sighed, "Yeah man, its fine. I should be the one apologizing, this wouldn't have happened if I wasn't here, to begin with." Nom Nom looked down, trying to blame himself for the whole situation. "Don't beat yourself up, I jumped to conclusions and let my attitude get the better of me. No hard feelings right?" Panda, once again, asked for reassurance and held out his paw, bawled up, meant to be a fist in an attempt to fist bump him. Nom Nom looked at nodded. "Yeah, no hard feelings." He said while bumping fists with the bear. Ice Bear added in, "Ice Bear is glad you two made up but what about older brother?"

Right on cue, Grizz walked into the room, scratching his head fur. "Hey, guys, what's happening." His two brothers and Nom Nom were perplexed and it was all over their faces. Nom Nom was the first to speak up, "You don't remember what happened?" "Did something happen?" Grizz apparently missed something as he doesn't recall anything happening. Grizz pondered for a second then snapped his fingers, "Oh! Uh, Panman, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have gotten so angry. That's not how a brother should act." Grizz grabbed his arm with his paw and looked down in embarrassment. "Oh yeah man, it's fine, it's fine." Panda tried to make sure he got the message of him forgiving him while giving some reassuring nods. Nom Nom gave a fake yet convincing grin. Grizz wiped his eyes, "Okay. Thanks for understanding." He still felt a bit drowsy and still didn't know why. Grizz extended his back upwards and extended his arms outwards to stretch while he yawned showing his fanged teeth that weren't supposed to be there. Nom Nom and Panda side glanced at each other with a frightened expression for a split second. He doesn't remember and he's experiencing some side effects. Great. "Ice Bear thinks we should all go somewhere." Ice Bear broke the silence. Grizz's face lit up with excitement as a big smile came across his face. "Sounds great! where could we-" Grizz stopped himself and glanced over towards Nom Nom. "Actually, I don't think we can." Grizz pauses in brief suspense. "Nom Nom can't reveal himself to the public just yet." Grizz scratched his fur trying to think of an alternative before Panda intervened. "Oh! I think I got an idea!" Panda was excited to try his plan. He dashed towards his room and came back with a ruler and kneeled in front of Nom Nom. "May I?" Nom Nom could see where this was going. "You may." Nom Nom held his arms out, stretching them in the opposite direction of each other while keeping them parallel from the ground. It was a T-pose, perfect! Panda started to use the ruler to measure Nom Nom's body dimensions into inches. Grizz and Ice Bear stood in awe as they watched their brother work. Panda then nodded his head, giving himself the okay in accomplishment. He then ran into his room, slammed the door shut, and locked it. "Well, I guess we wait," said Grizz. They attempted to watch television until Panda was done but there were loud noises that resembled the buzzing of a bee but louder.

After thirty minutes of trying to ignore the sounds, they finally stopped. Panda finally came out of his room, his fur was roughed and he was sweating a bit. He wiped his brow and then came into the living room with a thick silk purple shirt, a small baseball cap, and jeans. The jeans did look like they were just old cut-up jeans but the rest looked amazing! "Whoa! I didn't know you knew how to sew, Panpan." "Ice Bear is proud of Panda's accomplishments." Grizzly and Ice Bear were happy to see Panman create something so amazing. "Y-yeah, I've taken sewing classes before." Panda handed the clothing down to Nom Nom. "Here you go, see if these fit alright. "Okay, also, thank you, I appreciate it." Nom Nom gave Panda a light smile before putting on the clothing. He looked down at himself and he felt like a new person. He's never really put on clothes before unless it was for a special occasion. He twisted his caps backward and turned around towards the door and proudly put his paws on his hips and tilted his head upwards. "I think I'm ready to go!" Enthusiasm was radiating from Nom Nom's voice. Grizz grinned and chipped with more enthusiasm, "Yeah! Let's go!"

Once they got outside, the bears proceeded to get into a stack since it was kind of tradition to them. The koala suddenly felt like he was in an awkward potion then suddenly Ice Bear grabbed him and tossed him up, all the way to the back of Grizz. He could see, everything! It's been a while since he's been up this high. "Grab on, man," Grizz told him just in case the ride is too fast or bumpy for him. After about, a five-minute ride then arrived at the mall. "Okay Bros, remember, don't spend too much money," said Grizz, hopping off the stack with Nom Nom still on his back. He waved back at them as they all went their separate ways. Nom Nom hopped off of Grizz and walked alongside him. "So, what do you want to do?" Nom Nom wanted to do something fun or at least not boring but still asked the other so he doesn't come off as being so controlling. "Usually, I just sit around GameStop, play some games and maybe buy some." Grizz voice had a hint of happiness. Nom Nom could tell Grizz was very excited when it came to gaming, he gave Grizz a small smile. "Why don't we check it out then," said Nom Nom, watching Grizz burst with energy. "Yes!" Grizz grabbed Nom Nom's hands and walked at a quick pace towards GameStop. Nom Nom felt his heart skip a beat and he suddenly felt...weird again when Grizz grabbed his hand. Jeez, Nom Nom felt like his breaths became short. Next thing he knew, he had let go and there were inside the store. Grizz's looked around and then his face lit up with joy like a child when he saw something that peaked his interest. It was a game demo for the PlayStation 4. Nom Nom looked up in attempt to see what he was so excited about. Nom Nom couldn't see the screen but he saw as Grizz grabbed the controller and started to play the game. Nom Nom couldn't see what was happening but it sounded intense. He could hear tons of bad language and heard cutting and liquid sounding noises. Nom Nom got upset that he was missing the action as others started to come over to watch Grizz play, they were cheering him on. He climbed up the bear's legs and onto his shoulder. Nom Nom squinted his eyes at the bright screen and most of what he could make out was some character swinging around these super big...nude people, Nom Nom tilted his head in confusion at this. The game did seem action packed though. "Hey, uh, Grizz, do you have this game already? You're really good at it." Nom Nom was puzzled on how he was this good, he must own the game. "I can't afford to buy it yet, so I come by here almost daily to play it, man," said Grizz, focused on completing the mission he had started in-game. "Oh," Nom Nom felt kind of bad for him, he seemed to enjoy it so much and he was subjected to coming here to play it. Nom Nom snapped his fingers. A-ha! Nom Nom reached into the pockets of his jeans and pulled out a wallet that had a palm tree printed on the front. "Grizz, I'll be over here for a second," said Nom Nom before he walked away to another part of the store. Grizz heard Nom Nom but could only mumble under his breath to keep his focus, "Yeah, ok."

Nom Nom went up to the counter of the establishment. He was too short to look over it though. "Hey! Down here!" Nom Nom raises his voice so he could be heard by the clerk behind the cashier. "Huh?" The clerk looked around before leaning over the counter and looking down at him. The clerks seemed like he was in his teenage years and had a bright expression on his face, almost too bright, thought Nom Nom. "Oh, sorry sir. Welcome to GameStop, is there anything you need assistance with?" Nom Nom sighed and pointed towards the game demo that Grizz was playing. There were now a few other people on the other side of him, watching him play. "I would like to purchase that game, please." Ugh. Nom Nom didn't like using please too often. "Oh! Attack on Titans 2. Great choice sir, I heard it got great reviews." Nom Nom knew the clerk was just trying to make small talk but he wanted to hurry up and buy it. "The cashier looked behind him and in multiple drawers before finding the requested game. He put it in a GameStop plastic bag, along with the newest Game Informer magazine. He tapped a few keys on the computer/cash register and then looked back at Nom Nom. "That will be, exactly $60 sir." Nom Nom thought that he had misheard him as he wasn't use to things being that cheap, at least that cheap for him. "Alright," replied Nom Nom as he jumped up just barely enough to put the money on the counter." The clerk took the money and put it in the cash register and watched as a smaller device printed out the receipt. He grabbed the receipt and the bag to the edge of the counter for the koala to take. "Thank you, very much." Nom Nom graciously thanked the kind man, grabbed the bag and receipt and went over towards Grizz. He put the receipt in his pocket.

Grizz was intensely focused on the game. He was almost done with the mission. He just needed to defeat one more- Mission Complete appeared on the screen as Grizz jumped up from the controller, pumping his fist in the air and letting a loud, "Yeah!" He was being showered with praise by his peers that were watching him and high fives all of them. Nom Nom then came over to Grizz to congratulate him and give him something. "Hey Grizz, Congrats." Grizz heard Nom Nom's voice mid-celebration and looked down at him. "Thanks, buddy, I-" Nom Nom interrupted him mid-sentence and pulled the bag from behind his back. "Surprise!" Grizz covered his mouth with paws. He was touched. He then gave one of those joyous yells that he always did when he was excited and then scooped Nom Nom into his arms and gave him a gracious hug. "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you," said Grizz, repetitively. People around were staring and giving the typical "Awww." They must have thought they were in some kind of relationship. Nom Nom usually disliked too much affection but he found this wonderful. Grizz checked his watch which he had apparently brought with him to keep track of time. It was almost 4 o'clock and the mall closed at 6. "We have about two hours to spare, what do you want to do now," asked Grizz, putting Nom Nom down. Nom Nom looked down and scratched his chin, thinking. "Well, I guess we could go get something to eat? I'm kind of famished," replied Nom Nom, putting his hands on his stomach for extra emphasis. "Alright, sounds good." Without another word, they took each other's paw and walked out of the store and headed towards the food court.

Nom Nom put the GameStop bag around his shoulder so there wasn't so much weight on his free paw. Nom Nom suddenly noticed that his other paw was interlocked by Grizz's paw. He looked around while they were walking and they were getting some interesting glares. His cheeks had a soft pink tint to them as this made his slightly embarrassed. Did we really look that much like a couple? I wonder if Grizz is noticing this. Nom Nom thought to himself without saying a word. They finally got to the food court and found Ice Bear and Panda waiting in the back of a line. They seemed to be waiting in line for New York style pizza. Grizz's walk turned into a brisk jog and it caught Nom Nom be surprised as he had to put extra effort into keeping up with him due to his small legs, also since he was still holding hands with him. Once they got next to the brothers, Grizz gave a friendly wave and greeting. "Hey guys, what did you guys do." Panda and Ice Bear immediately noticed that he and Nom Nom were holding hands. Nom Nom tried his very best not to make any kind of eye contact with him. "Oh, uh, I got some manga and art supplies," said Panda, gesturing the bag that he had on his shoulder. "Ice Bear went to the gym." "Had extreme work out." Ice Bear then flexed his arms. "Wow, sounds like you two had fun." Grizz gave a big smile. Panda snickered a little and mumbled under his breath, "Seems like you two had fun as well." Grizz's ears twitched. "What did you say," asked Grizz. Panda shook his head and gave a small fake smile, "Oh, nothing." Nom Nom and Grizz joined them in the line and waited patiently to get to the front. They each ordered 2 New York style pizzas. Once they received their food, they left the counter and went to table and sat down. They are their lunch peacefully and quietly until Grizz suddenly started bragging a bit. "Oh, hey, look what Nom Nom bought me." He held up the GameStop that contained the PlayStation 4 version of Attack on Titans 2. Ice Bear and Panda glanced at each other for a moment. "Oh yeah, that's cool. You've been wanting that game for a while," said Panda. Grizz nodded, "Yeah." Nom Nom looked up from his phone to see Ice Bear mouthing some words but didn't audibly say anything. Since Nom Nom is used to the world of fame and drama he could understand read his lips well enough to know what he was saying. "Ice Bear thanks you," mouthed Ice Bear. Nom Nom gave a small smile and nodded.

Suddenly, Grizz started snickering to himself and then turned towards Nom Nom. "Hey Noms, wanna hear a joke," asked Grizz almost hopping out of his chair with excitement. "Uh, sure, why not," replied Nom Nom, wondering why the grizzly was so excited. Grizz took a deep breath to calm himself down. "Okay. What is a bear' favorite drink," asked Grizz, patiently waiting for the other's response. "Uhm...I don't know, Pepsi?" Nom Nom had no idea what the answer. Grizz snickered and suddenly yelled, "KOKA-KOALA." He then slapped the table while went into a laughing fit. He was attracting eyes towards their table. Ice Bear snickered and Panda gave a sarcastic, "Heh." Nom Nom, on the other hand, he went from snickering to soft laughing and finally to loud laughing. He had never heard a joke so funny before. He tried to speak between his laughs, "That's a good one." He then started laughing to a point where he kicking his feet, holding his stomach, and leaning his head back. His baseball cap fell to the floor. Oh no. His ears were suddenly exposed and he didn't even know. People were gasping and pointing. Many also asked each other, "Is that the famous koala, Nom Nom?" Just seconds before a lot of people came running over with their phones. Panda, Grizz, and Ice Bear were trying to get his attention a few seconds by calling his name but he was laughing so hard that he could not hear them. Nom Nom didn't notice until he the sound of a lot of footsteps over his laughter and looked down to see that their table was now surrounded by people recording him with their phones. He then felt a cool breeze on his head and felt for his hat but only felt fur. "Crap," exclaimed Nom Nom. His vision started to blur and his stomach started to cramp as anxiety, stress, and tears tackled him at once. People were starting to murmur amongst themselves things such as, "Nom Nom has been found, this is great," "Who are these bears that are with him," "Did these bears kidnap Nom Nom," and "Why is the brown bear always seen with him?"

The bears immediately got out of their chairs and nodded to each other simultaneously. In a blink of an eye, the bears climbed into a stack. They went around the table and stopped beside Nom Nom. Grizz extended his arm and held out his paw towards Nom Nom giving him a serious yet caring expression."Come on, we need to get out of here." Nom Nom looked up at Grizz and suddenly everything but Grizz's got blurry. He never noticed how handsome he was before and he felt that weird feeling in his chest again. The koala shook his head, trying to clear his weird thoughts an took Grizz's hand and climbed onto his back. "Hold on tight," commanded Grizz. Nom Nom wrapped his arms around Grizz's sides and kept his head low. Panda looked up towards Grizz, "All ready?" Ice Bear bent his legs into a squat and furrowed his eyebrows. "Ice Bear is a train that is raring to go." he then proceeded to run in place and made train noises, repetitively saying "Chuga." Grizz then looked down and yelled, "CHARGE!" Ice Bear took off and headed straight towards the crowd, who was now stunned with fear and couldn't move. "Woot, Woot," sounded Ice Bear, making more train noises. The bears made collision with the crowd and everyone was either being knocked back or trampled, all of the bears looked downward and closed their eyes. There were plenty of screams and use of some explicit language. The bears eventually got enough momentum to where they were being slowed down by the crowd anymore and soon they busted out the other side of the crowd. Nom Nom looked back to see people on the ground, some crawling, and some were chasing after them. Suddenly, out of all of that came about 5 security guards with batons and tasers, rushing towards them. He then carefully climbed up to Grizz's ears and whispered what he saw. Grizz then patted Panda's side and said, "We need to leave, security is after us." "Ice Bear hears you loud and clear," said Ice Bear before taking a sharp right turn around the corner. The exit was in view, they could make it out. More security guards appeared in front of the door, barricading it. Ice Bear then looked around and found a nearby escalator and ran up it, even though it was moving downwards. They were now in the clothing section of the mall and Ice Bear slowed down a bit to catch his breath. Panda looked around to find another set of stairs or escalator. He squinted and saw a sign on the wall that said Fire Escape and pointed, "Look, over there!" Nom Nom, Grizz, and Ice Bear looked over there and saw the door and started heading over there. When they got in the door, the security guards were standing on the stairs, blocking their path. "Just surrender yourself and we won't have a problem," said one of the guards, snarking. Nom Nom took off his coat, balled it up, and threw it at one of the guards but t just bounced off him. Dang, that's all Nom Nom could do. Ice Bear looked beside the guards and saw the rails of the stairs. He then started to run in place and make those train noises again. Then he bent his head down and charged the first guard like a bull and then jumped onto the rail and rode it down the stairs. This, of course, hurt Ice Bear's paws immensely but he tried his best to hold on. Nom Nom felt like he was filming an action movie but he had never done his own stunts before and of course he was screaming. Panda held onto Ice Bear for dear life, thinking that this was over dramatic and dangerous, he was also screaming. Grizz was yelling with joy as he thought this was fun. Once they got to the bottom, they dashed out of the door, setting off an alarm. Ice Bear started to slow down once they got onto the grass, his paws were red and they were severely bruised. Panda thought to himself for a second and then hopped off of Ice Bear. "You need to rest man, come on, get on top," said Panda. Ice Bear slowly but surely climbed to the top and saw Nom Nom sitting on Grizz's back. "Oh, I'm sorry, he dropped down to the side of Grizz and held onto his fur and watched Ice Bear climb onto the top of the stack and then proceeded to climb the top of him. Once Ice Bear was firmly on top, Panda dashed off across the grass and into the parking lot. The guards came out the entrance a bit too late as they were already on their way towards the sidewalk. Nom Nom turned and may have done some questionable gestures with his fingers towards them.

It took what felt like forever to get home. Once they got inside, all four of them collapsed on the couch. All of their furs were ruffled and they smelt really sweaty. Ice Bear kicked his feet up onto the table and curved his leg towards him to look at the damage. He cringed at the sight and groaned, turning them back the other way. Grizz grabbed the remote and turned on the TV. It was news, he immediately turned to another channel. The news was on that channel too. What? He flipped through each channel and all of them were the news. Grizz smacked his lips and put down the remote in defeat. The headline was: Nom Nom kidnapped? A reporter was at the scene of the food court with a lot of people who looked like they got beat up. She talked about these three bears, all three different species, were with Nom Nom. Grizz turned off the TV and they sat in silence for a couple of minutes. Nom Nom hopped up from the couch, "I guess I call dibs on the shower first." He went into the hallway, towards the bathroom and a door slam was heard. "Little bro, I'm going to get you a bucket of ice for your feet," said Panda, getting up and walking away. "Ice Bear would like that," replied Ice Bear, giving a very small smile. Grizz and Ice Bear were on the couch alone now. Grizz was about to say something but then Ice Bear spat out, "Ice Bear wants to know why you didn't tell us." Grizz rose an eyebrow and turned to look at him. "Tell you guys what," questioned Grizz, puzzled. "You and the koala," responded Ice Bear. Grizz's face suddenly felt warm. "Bro, I don't know what you mean", said Grizz. Ice Bear opened his mouth to speak but then Panda came in with two buckets of ice, one for each foot. He placed the buckets in front of Ice Bear. Ice Bear took his feet off the table and put it into the buckets. He groaned with pleasure from the ice. Panda sat down beside his bros and scratched at his neck. He had something on his mind. "Hey Grizz," started Panda. "What's going on between you and Nom Nom," finished Panda. Grizz was now flustered. "What do you guys mean? There's nothing going on", exclaimed Grizz. "Then why were you two holding hands," remarked Panda. Grizz put his paw up about to object but he couldn't. He had nothing to say about it so all that came out was, "Uhh." Panda patted Grizz on the shoulder. "It's okay bro, it's nothing to be ashamed of. Bears can love and that's a beautiful thing," said Panda. "Ice Bear agrees," remarked Ice Bear. Grizz smiled, "Thanks, bros." Grizz expression changed to a more serious one. "But really, we haven't really had anything or expressed any kind of affection really." Panda and Ice Bear scratched their heads. "Well Bros, I'm going to bed, I'll just take a shower in the morning, good night," said Grizz getting up and going to his room.

Once Grizz was in his room, he cut off the lights and he basically collapsed onto his bed. He missed the warm and cozy feeling of his bed. He later across his stomach and spread his arms out like he was hugging the bed and sooner or later he was asleep. Nom Nom had just finished his bath was walking in the hallway. When he approached Grizz's door, he heard loud snoring. He opened the door and turned on the light to find Grizz knocked out, snoring like always. "Wow, I thought he would at least take a brisk shower or something first." Nom Nom could definitely smell the bear's sweaty body odor and he was definitely not sleeping close to him without something between them. Nom Nom searched the closet for something he could wrap himself in, he found one of Grizz's old pajamas and wrapped himself in it and planted himself under Grizz's arm. He could feel the warmth radiating from the grizzly and his vision soon became blurry as he yawned, soon being engulfed into the world that was sleep. Ice Bear and Panda soon walked into the room to check on them. Both of them smiled and Ice Bear turned off the light and shut the door as they left.

~Bells were ringing. Doves were flying in the air. Two lovers were announcing their vows to each other whilst in front of bunch of people that were sitting in chairs, including a Bigfoot holding hands with a Panda Bear, a Polar Bear, a bald security guard, a young Korean girl and a tall women beside a bunch of kids that were wearing the same uniform. The two lovers were a grizzly and a koala. The had finished their vows and the minister had now said the infamous lines, "Grizzly, do you-" He was interrupted by the grizzly, wearing a black suit, "Yeah!" The minister cleared his throat and looked towards the koala, who was standing on boxes, "And you, Nom-" He was once again interrupted but this time by the koala, who was also wearing a black suit, "Yes." The minister sighed and looked at the grizzly then the koala, "With the power vested in me, I pronounce you, grizzly and koala. You may now salute the koala." Grizz took a step forward and was now inches away from the Koala's faces. He lifted the koala off the boxes and when he was leaning his face for the kiss…~

Grizz opened his eyes, face very warm. Grizz was startled and as he tried to look around, he couldn't see but he could feel something small under his arm and suddenly, he felt much better and drifted back off to sleep.


End file.
